Internship Program

The B2B internship component or Bridge to Biotech’s Internship program is offered exclusively to B2B students and graduates. Like the B2B, it targets underprepared and economically disadvantaged adults who wish to work in the Biotechnology field while they pursue their education at City College of San Francisco.

The internship program seeks to:

• Match participants with internship positions in Bay Area academic, government and biotechnology research laboratories;

• Monitor intern performance and professionalism throughout the internship and support mentors with the internship training as needed;

• Provide personal and professional support to students to increase success rates;

• Help students grasp scientific and technical concepts during the internship, through in-class discussions and presentations;

• Provide students with networking opportunities, job search tools and assistance after the internship.

The program includes 2 courses during the Bridge semester, which are integrated with the Bridge curriculum, but are optional for Bridge students, and provide the basic laboratory skills used in bench-type internships, as well as the soft skills required to work efficiently in a laboratory environment and apply for positions in the field. The second semester includes a 180-hour lab assistant or lab technician-level internships in Bay Area laboratories.

Between 2007 and 2009, approximately 50 students graduated from the Bridge to Biotech’s Internship Program alone, 40% of which were hired in research laboratories within a year after their internship. Some of the first interns who were hired as Lab Assistants after their internships - students who had no college degree or science background –have recently been promoted to Team Leader or to Staff Research Associate positions.

The majority of students who did not get hired in the field after completion of the program were not actively looking for work but decided to continue their education in the Biotechnology certificates as full-time students.